The Edmonton Eskimos and Hamilton Tiger-Cats qualified for the CFL playoffs on Friday, leaving the B.C. Lions hanging by a thread.

The Lions (8-10) were humiliated 45-13 by Edmonton in final regular-season game for both teams, and the final game under the big white top of B.C. Place Stadium. The Eskimos (9-9) clinched third place in the West Division, and the Tiger-Cats (8-9) earned a berth in the East Division playoffs.

B.C. needs Hamilton to beat the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Sunday, or will miss the postseason for the first time since 1996. Winnipeg advances with a win.

“We don’t have to sit in front of the TV this weekend,” said Eskimos rookie running back Arkee Whitlock, who gained 226 total yards and scored two touchdowns.

The Lions have been reduced to observers, and are contemplating some surreal scenarios.

Wally Buono, the model of consistency, could miss the playoffs for only the second time in 20 years and the first time since becoming B.C. general manager and head coach in 2003. If B.C. slips in the back door, Buono may be down to two healthy quarterbacks next week.

Five passers were needed to stumble through 2009, including scout-teamer Zac Champion, who was asked – impossibly – to save the game Friday after Casey Printers and Buck Pierce were lost to injury before halftime.

“We knew it was our game in the second quarter,” Edmonton linebacker Maurice Lloyd said. “We knew we had a great chance of blowing this team out if we played the way the Eskimos can play.

“When you see a No. 3 quarterback come in, who hasn’t played a game, it’s lunch time. It’s time to eat.”

The Lions were flat – particularly on defence – and fell to 4-5 inside the dome this year. They were embarrassed for a third time at home, and by last call, most of the 31,151 had fled, leaving empty blue seats.

“Honestly, I wasn’t surprised,” Buono said, citing a flu that spread through the team earlier this week. “I felt a certain fatigue. I felt a certain numbness.

“You hope when the game comes around you can overcome all that, but when you see both quarterbacks get nicked, it kind of takes a little air out of the balloon. Edmonton cam in here fired up and we couldn’t match that.

“On top of all that, I got the impression we just lost hope.”

Buono’s club will move outdoors to a temporary facility at the former site of Empire Stadium for 2010, while 26-year-old B.C. Place undergoes a $458-million renovation. By 2011, when the Lions are scheduled to return to the stadium, it will have been fitted with a retractable roof, which will replace the air-supported bubble that has defined Vancouver’s skyline since 1983.

Perhaps open surroundings will release the Curse of the Quarterback, which has plagued the home team since its last Grey Cup in 2006. Since then, keeping pivots upright has been a challenge, and B.C. Place’s last bow was no different.

Printers strained ligaments in his right (throwing) thumb on his first pass of the game. Pierce re-injured his right (throwing) shoulder on a failed quarterback sneak before late in the second quarter, a play that changed the game.

Neither quarterback had the strength to throw the football after halftime – Pierce took two needles to no avail – and Champion and Travis Lulay may be the only healthy quarterbacks for a prospective East Division semi-final in Hamilton.

“I did everything in my power to go out there and play,” said Pierce, who suffered two concussions and a reoccurring shoulder problem in 2009. “If I have nine days – the 15th is my birthday – then I’ll be back.”

Champion, 25, had not played a down all year. The second-year veteran slipped to fourth-string out of training camp, and entered the game trailing by 11 points courtesy of a momentum shift with less than two minutes remaining in the second quarter.

B.C. could not convert on third-and-inches at its own 46-yard line, continuing a two-year trend of awful short-yardage execution. Pierce was stopped – and hurt – on a quarterback sneak, and counterpart Ricky Ray counter-attacked a four-yard touchdown pass to Efrem Hill to make it 24-13 at halftime.

It forced the Lions to play catch-up with an inexperienced quarterback.

“You’ve got to throw some deep balls and take chances, and I was trying to do that even though they were playing some [deep] coverages,” said Champion, who completed just four of 14 passes with two interceptions. “I was thinking they might come blitz me because I’m a young guy, but they didn’t. I guess they didn’t want to give up the opportunity for a big play.”

In the second half, the Eskimos poured it on behind a dominant offensive line.

Ray, barely disturbed by B.C. pass rushers, completed 19 of 26 attempts for 248 yards, while league-leading receiver Fred Stamps had six catches for 102 yards, and finishes the season with 85 receptions for 1,402 yards. Whitlock had 165 rushing yards and two touchdowns as Edmonton scored five touchdowns along the ground, most in the CFL this season.

“My job was easy,” Whitlock said. “All I had to do was take the ball and run. I had holes big enough to get to Edmonton.”

CFL Playoff Picture

Saturday

Calgary Stampeders at Saskatchewan Roughriders (7 p.m. ET, Mosaic Stadium)

Stakes: Winner claims first place in the West Division and home-field advantage for the division final – Saskatchewan hasn’t won the West since 1976.

Loser plays host to the Edmonton Eskimos in the semi-final.

Sunday

Hamilton Tiger-Cats at Winnipeg Blue Bombers (1 p.m. ET Canad Inns Stadium)

Stakes: The Tiger-Cats claim second place in the East Division and eliminate the Blue Bombers with a victory. Hamilton would play host to the B.C. Lions in the division semi-final, its first home playoff game since 2001.

The Bombers claim second place and eliminate the Lions with a victory. Winnipeg would host Hamilton in the semi-final.